Musings, observations, and written works from the publisher of Eckhartz Press, the media critic for the Illinois Entertainer, host of Minutia Men, and the writer of "The Living Wills", "$everance," "Just One Bad Century," "Father Knows Nothing," "The Radio Producer's Handbook," and "Records Truly Is My Middle Name"

Wednesday, December 07, 2016

Media Matters

Media Matters, the organization that has been monitoring Fox News and talk radio for the past decade or so to shine a light on what was happening inside the conservative media bubble, announced yesterday that they are going to changing their focus.

Instead of pointing out the obvious bias in the right wing press, they are now going to focus on exposing fake news.

I think that's a great idea. It's the biggest scourge on the media landscape at the moment. From Politico...

Media Matters will now focus their efforts on grappling with misinformation, where it comes from, and how it spreads. These new efforts will include new staff and a focus on technology, bringing in experts to build in-house software to help track conspiracy theories and misinformation.

“We have to think about how we’re getting bigger and louder, not just misinformation but all out propaganda. That’s a role that’s very different than in the past,” (new president) Carusone said. “We’ve not tried to mobilize massive amounts of people or develop a larger following. But it’s going to have to be a part of what we’re doing."